Grammy Awards postponed amid Covid concerns

Los Angeles: The 64th Grammy Awards has been postponed weeks before the Los Angeles ceremony was scheduled to be held, over "too many risks" from the Omicron variant, said the organisers.

“After careful consideration and analysis with city and state officials, health and safety experts, the artist community and our many partners, the Recording Academy and CBS have postponed the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show," the Recording Academy and CBS said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

They said the decision has been taken as "the health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remains our top priority."

"Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon," they added.

This came as the organisers of the Sundance Film Festival canceled this year's in-person events due to increase in number of Omicron cases.

"We have been looking forward to our first fully hybrid Sundance Film Festival and our teams have spent a year planning a festival like no other," the Sundance Institute said in a statement. (UNI)